Lancing land sale to allow Ikea and 600 homes to go ahead is supported

During a virtual meeting on Wednesday (April 15), members also asked Jeremy Hunt, cabinet member for finance, to phase in the expected rent rise faced by travellers when they move to a larger, purpose-built site nearby.

The land, at New Monks Farm, is owned by the council and has been used to house travellers since the late 1980s.

With permission given for an IKEA and 600 homes to be built on New Monks Farm, the council intends to sell the traveller site to developer The Community Stadium Limited.

The developer will provide a new site almost adjacent to the current one and pay all costs involved with moving the residents.

Better facilities means a rise in rents, and there were concerns from members of the Performance & Finance Scrutiny Committee that this would cause problems for some.

At the end of the meeting, chairman Joy Dennis (Con, Hurstpierpoint & Bolney) said: “This committee recognises concerns over the rent changes and recommends that a phased approach to increases is introduced, particularly while the building development is taking place.”

The New Monks Farm issue was being discussed following a call-in from members of the Labour group, led by Michael Jones (Lab, Southgate & Gossops Green).

The group felt there had been no public scrutiny of the matter and a ‘lack of transparency’ about the council’s agreement with the developer to deliver the new traveller site.

Mr Jones said much of the decision to sell the land and move the travellers was ‘questionable’ and added: “Once this decision is taken, there’s no other opportunity to consider the impact of these proposals on the residents.”

He predicted the council was leaving itself open to a legal challenge over the sale of the land – a claim firmly denied by Tony Kershaw, director of law and assurance.

Another concern raised by Mr Jones was the lack of financial information made available, including the value of the land.

On that point, Duncan Crow, cabinet member for communities, said: “We need to recognise that we’re talking about land for a traveller site here – there’s no other proposed use for the land.

“So therefore it doesn’t really have a value attached to it because the only value is in terms of enabling the development to take place.

“But certainly there will be a significant saving in not having to update the facilities and that money will be used by the county council for other capital projects.”

That saving is expected to be around £1million, with the cost of the new site falling on the shoulders of the developer.

Mr Crow said the sale of the land and the entire New Monks Farm was a ‘great opportunity’, adding: “It would be very, very remiss of us not to seize that opportunity.”

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.